Image caption
Julian Assange is in custody until an extradition hearing on 14 December

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, is fighting against extradition from Britain to Sweden where he faces allegations of rape and coercing women into having sex - accusations which his defenders say are part of a conspiracy to silence him. Stephen Evans reports from Stockholm on how Swedish law may prove difficult for the Wikileaks founder.

Everybody you talk to in Sweden involved in the Julian Assange affair asserts - often with some irritation - that: "There Is No Conspiracy."

The Swedish authorities are not acting at the behest of the CIA or the American embassy in Stockholm when they make life difficult for the founder of Wikileaks.

Tough laws

The lawyer for the two women who have accused Mr Assange of coercing them sexually told the BBC it was not part of some wider, global plot.

"Absolutely not," said Claes Borgstrom. "I represent two women who have experienced something that many thousands of women both in Sweden and in other countries have experienced."

Sweden has one of the toughest laws on sexual crime in the world - lawyers sometimes joke that men need written permission first.

As Mr Borgstrom put it: "It is not necessary to have a lot of violence. That is what people usually think, but in practice if you force someone to have sex with you against their consent you don't have to use much violence at all. Or you can take advantage of a difficult situation for the woman in question."

He says Mr Assange knows that this case is simply a matter of what happened with the two women rather than a bigger conspiracy.

"I'm very much critical of Julian Assange himself because he knows that that is not the case. He should say it has nothing to do with his engagement with Wikileaks," said Mr Borgstrom.

Three categories

The sexual allegations

'Unlawful coercion' against Miss A - pinning her down

'Sexual molestation' by refusing to wear a condom with Miss A

'Deliberate molestation' of Miss A

'Rape' of Miss W: had sex with her while she was sleeping and without a condom